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OKC bombing survivors reunite on anniversary

By TIM TALLEY

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing always conjures up dreadful memories for survivor Beverly Rankin, and this year will be even more somber as she and others devastated by that attack look to also honor victims of the Boston Marathon explosions.

“It never ends. There are just so many sick people out there,” Rankin said Thursday, a day before the 18th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. “What kind of a thrill can they get from hurting people and killing people?

“I’ll never understand that.”

The Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people and injured hundreds more on April 19, 1995. Although it happened years before and more than 1,500 miles away from Monday’s bombing in Boston that killed three and injured more than 180, there are similarities, said a retired psychologist who was among those hurt in the federal building attack.

“They are similar in that innocent people were victimized in order to make a statement,” said Dr. Paul Heath, who formerly worked for the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs. “It’s really, really sad that it happened in Boston. It bothers me.”

Jannie Coverdale, whose two grandsons, 5-year-old Aaron Coverdale and 2-year-old Elijah Coverdale, were killed in the Oklahoma City bombing, said the attack in Boston occurring so close to the anniversary has brought back horrific memories.

“It’s all happening near April 19th. When something like that happens, it brings back the anger,” she said. “I’ve been angry ever since (the 1995 bombing) happened — and depressed.”

Friday’s ceremony remembering the Oklahoma City bombing will be held near the former site of the federal building that now houses the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, which honors bombing victims, survivors and rescue workers and details the effects of violence.

Rankin, a retired Social Security Administration employee, was seated at her desk on the first floor of the nine-story federal building when a truck bomb was detonated on the street outside. She said her thoughts turn to the horror of the bombing and the co-workers she lost whenever the anniversary draws near.

“April’s never a good month it seems like,” Rankin said.

But she and other survivors have learned they can move past the trauma. They hope those injured in the Boston explosions can eventually do the same.

“It’s a horrific thing, but there’s always hope. We can’t let evil win,” Rankin said. “You’ve got to go on and you’ve got to show people that you care about them and evil’s not going to win. You’ve got to keep pushing and pushing. It’s not the end of the world. You can persevere.”

Still, the passage of time does not fill the loss felt by those whose family members were killed, said Coverdale, whose two grandsons were killed in a day care center inside the federal building and were among 19 children who died in the bombing.

“A lot of people expect us to have gotten over it. You don’t get over it. This is something we have to live with,” she said.

The Oklahoma City federal building was destroyed when a truck containing more than 4,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel oil was detonated in front of it. The bombing remains the worst domestic terror attack in U.S. history and was the deadliest on U.S. soil before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Federal prosecutors said Army veteran Timothy McVeigh planned the bombing as revenge for the deadly standoff between the FBI and Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, that killed more than 70 people on April 19, 1993 — exactly two years earlier.

McVeigh was convicted on federal murder and conspiracy charges in 1997 and executed in 2001.

His Army buddy, Terry Nichols, was convicted on federal and state bombing-related charges and is serving multiple life sentences in a federal prison.